The U.S. military said it was repositioning its aircraft over Syria to ensure the safety of American air crews targeting Islamic State.The White House also said it would work to keep lines of communication open with Russian Federation amid the new tensions.
The U.S. anti-ISIS mission noted that it repeatedly warned pro-Syrian regime forces over the now cut deconfliction channel.
Russian Federation will treat all USA aircraft west of the Euphrates river in Syria as legitimate targets after a U.S. F/A-18 shot down a Syrian regime aircraft Sunday, striking anti-ISIS forces, Moscow announced Monday.
Iranian officials threatened more strikes.
Russian Defense Ministry said its own warplanes had been in the same space as the Syrian-U.S. strike, according to The Washington Post.
Meanwhile, the USA -backed opposition fighters said Assad's forces have been attacking their positions in the northern province of Raqqa and warned that if such attacks continue, the fighters will take action.
"The worst thing any of us could do right now is address this with hyperbole", Dunford said.
Areas of northern Syria west of the Euphrates were controlled by IS before Syrian government forces captured a lot of them in recent months. Those forces, which are aligned with the U.S.in the campaign against the Islamic State group, warned Syrian government troops to stop their attacks or face retaliation.
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"The Russian Federation has indicated that their objective in Syria, like ours, is to defeat ISIS, and we'll see if that's true here in the coming hours", he said.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Russian news agencies on Monday that the downing was akin to "helping the terrorists that the U.S.is fighting against". Former Guard chief Gen. Mohsen Rezai wrote on Twitter: "The bigger slap is yet to come".
It said that several hours earlier, regime forces had attacked the SDF in another town near Tabqa, wounding several and driving the SDF from the town.
Since the US-backed rebels failed to slow the Syrian Army down in southern Syria, the United States is now relying on the Kurdish forces to obstruct Damascus expansion eastward.
The clashes come as both sides are fighting against the Islamic State group, with SDF fighters now focusing on their march into the northern city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of IS.
Government ally Iran also Sunday launched missiles from its territory against alleged IS positions in eastern Syria for the first time, in response to an IS-claimed attack in Tehran.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks Syria's war, said government forced captured from IS on Monday the town of Rasafa, expanding their presence in Raqqa province.
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